Little Things may refer to:

• Little Things (Buffy novel), a 2002 novel in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
• Little Things (Toby Lightman album), a 2004 album by Toby Lightman
• Little Things (Sylver album), a 2003 album by Sylver
• "Little Things" (Good Charlotte song), a 2001 song by Good Charlotte
• "Little Things", a song by Bobby Goldsboro
• "Little Things" (The Oak Ridge Boys song), a 1985 song by The Oak Ridge Boys
• "Little Things" (Marty Stuart song), a 1991 song by Marty Stuart
• "Little Things" (Tanya Tucker song), a 1997 song by Tanya Tucker
• "Little Things" (Bush song), a 1994 song by the band Bush
• "Little Things" (India.Arie song), a 2002 song by India.Arie
• "The Little Things", a 2007 song by Colbie Caillat
• Little Things (short story), a short story by Raymond Carver

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

One Direction
One Direction at the 54th Logies Awards. From left to right: Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Pop
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Syco, Columbia
Associated acts	The X Factor finalists 2010
Website	onedirectionmusic.com
Members
Niall Horan Zayn Malik Liam Payne Harry Styles Louis Tomlinson

One Direction are a British-Irish boy band consisting of members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records^[1] after being formed and placing third in the seventh series of The X Factor. They later signed in North America to Columbia Records.^[2]

In November 2011, One Direction released their debut album Up All Night, which became the fastest-selling debut album in the UK of 2011.^[3] In 2012, it debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making One Direction the first UK group in history to debut at number one with their first album in the country.^[4][5] Up All Night spawned the Official UK Singles Chart top ten singles — "What Makes You Beautiful", "Gotta Be You", and "One Thing". In 2012, "What Makes You Beautiful" won the BRIT Award for Best British Single.^[6]

One Direction's world tour is set for 2013, with tickets grossing US$15.7 million for their Australian and New Zealand dates.^[7] They have been described as sparking a resurgence in boy bands, and of forming part of a new "British Invasion" in the United States together with artists such as Adele. One Direction has endorsements with Pokémon, Nokia, HarperCollins and Hasbro. In April 2012, One Direction's combined net worth was estimated at £10 million.^[8]

History[link]

[edit] 2010: The X Factor and formation

Wembley Arena, London, England, where the formation of One Direction took place during the "Bootcamp" stage of the competition.^[10]

In 2010, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan applied as solo candidates for the seventh series of The X Factor, but failed to qualify for the "Boys" category. After suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, they were put together to form the five-piece boy band One Direction, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category.^[11] The newly formed boy band had five weeks^[9] to gel as a group before the next stage of the competition. The group got together for week-long practice sessions in Manchester in a bungalow at the bottom of Styles's stepfather's garden to get to know each other, and to practice. Malik said: "we didn't know what a harmony was. We all just sang in unison for two weeks." Payne agreed: "we just threw ideas around. The first few days were quite tough. We all had different ideas but we didn't really know what a group was about." Styles came up band name One Direction as he thought it would sound good when X Factor announcer Peter Dickson read their name out on the live shows. Tomlinson added: "Harry texted us to ask what we thought and it was one of those were we all just said, 'Yes' straight away. We all entered the competition with one thing in mind and that was to go to the top, so it worked. And it can be abbreviated to 1D!"^[12]

In the live shows they covered songs by musical acts; Pink, Coldplay, The Beatles, Elton John, Kelly Clarkson, Snow Patrol and Rihanna, among others. After the elimination of F.Y.D., Diva Fever and Belle Amie within four weeks, they were Simon Cowell's last act in the competition. The group quickly gained popularity in UK. Cowell commented, "once they were on the show, it was unusual because in an instant, we had hundreds of fans outside the studio. That doesn't happen very often. The more I got to know them, the more I liked them and the more I trusted them. They had good taste and they understood the kind of group they wanted to be. They didn't want to be molded. I'm not interested in working with people like that either. They had their own views and they all brought something special to the table."^[9]

One Direction finished in third place behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. Immediately after the final, their song "Forever Young", which would have been released if they had won The X Factor, was leaked onto the internet.^[13] The group said that the experience was a learning curve, Payne saying: "normally when you put together a band they have some time to go away and do development but we had to do that on a live competition, in front of 20 million people. If you make a mistake in front of an audience like that, you get voted out. We had no room for error whatsoever. We had to grow up very, very fast." Tomlinson added, "We were gutted when we didn't win. But then we just started to reflect on it and we thought, we were the last group there, the youngest in the competition, and we didn't even know each other months ago. And when you look at it like that, we did really well. Some people say X Factor is an easy ride and a queue jump to fame. But we came from nothing, and had no experience as a group at all. And for me, by the time we came to the end of the show, we were a completely different group. We worked so hard, and achieved so much."^[12]

[edit] 2011–12: Up All Night, touring, and breakthrough

One Direction performing on the X Factor Live Tour, April 2011, the tour saw the group performing for 500,000 people throughout the UK.^[14]

In January 2011, One Direction signed a £2 million record contract with Cowell's company Syco Records. Recalling signing with Syco Records, Styles said: "We wanted to win and coming third was a big disappointment. So to find out we were signed was incredible. Simon Cowell was telling you your life was about to change! It was weird. Coming from our first audition to being signed by Syco is a huge journey".^[12] Cowell also stated, "This was such an important signing, we let three or four of the Sony labels make a presentation. I didn't automatically give it to my own label. I thought, "This is so important, if somebody can come up with a better idea..." I was actually willing to pass them along to another division of Sony because I thought the group were that important. I thought they were going to be so massive, I was prepared to do that. I let my own team work independently. They actually did come back with the best plan. I felt they understood the group better. It was good. I was able to give my own label the group."^[9] In November 2011, they signed a record deal with Columbia Records in North America.^[15] Steve Barnett, the co-chairman of Columbia Records, said it was not a difficult decision to sign One Direction. "Other artists in that category had gotten a little older," he said. "I just thought there was a void, and maybe they could seize and hold it."^[16] One Direction and nine other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour from February 2011 to April 2011. The tour saw the group performing for 500,000 people throughout the UK.^[17] They recorded their debut album entitled, Up All Night in Sweden, United States and the United Kingdom. The album features One Direction collaborating with Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub, RedOne, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, Tom Fletcher, Steve Mac, Toby Gad and Carl Falk.

One Direction released their debut single "What Makes You Beautiful" on 11 September 2011.^[18] The song broke pre-order sales record for Sony Music Entertainment.^[19] It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one on 18 September 2011, shifting 153,965 copies that week—the highest first-week UK sales for any song in 2011 at the time^[20] and in the Irish Singles Chart it remained at number one for four weeks.^[21] As of 8 May 2012, "What Makes You Beautiful" had become the ninety-second best selling single of the 21st Century in the UK.^[22] It was released in the U.S. in February 2012^[23], where it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty-eight,^[24] becoming the highest Billboard Hot 100 debut for a UK act since 1998.^[24] It went on to peak at number four and as of 21 May 2012, has sold 2,060,303 copies in the US.^[25] One Direction released their second single "Gotta Be You" on 13 November. It reached a peak of number three on the UK Singles Chart.^[26][27]

One Direction first official appearance in Canada received overwhelming reception, officials were forced to shut down the street outside of the Toronto headquarters of MuchMusic, where One Direction stopped by to make their first appearance on Canadian television. Screaming fans lined the Toronto street behind barriers.^[28]In the United States, One Direction made their first television appearance on The Today Show at the Rockefeller Center, 12 March 2012. In January 2012, Melissa Lonner, senior entertainment producer for NBC's Today Show, booked One Direction, she scheduled the group for a routine in-studio performance. But once news broke that the fivesome would be at 30 Rock, a deluge of fan emails flooded the show's inbox, forcing NBC to relocate the appearance to Rockefeller Plaza. That was when the New York City Police Department got involved. Spurred by reports of swelling public appearances by the band in other markets like Toronto and Boston, the latter of which attracting an estimated 5,000 screaming fans to Natick Mall. When One Direction appeared in midtown Manhattan on 12 March 2012, an estimated 15,000 fans descended on the plaza, spilling onto the surrounding streets. The crowd ranked among the biggest The Today Show has seen, with only Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Chris Brown having drawn that kind of turnout to date. "Keep in mind, Justin [Bieber] and Chris [Brown] have had hits in the U.S. and are known in the U.S.," Lonner said. "One Direction is relatively unknown with no hits yet. They basically exploded, and all the adults are saying, 'Who are these people, and how do they know about it?'"^[29][30] Following their popularity in North America, they were noted for the re surge of the boy band and led them to being dubbed as the new "British Invasion".^{[31][32][33][34][35]}

Their debut album is predominately a pop music record, which orientates into dance pop, teen pop, pop rock and power pop, containing electro pop and rock influences. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[36] Critics complimented the album for its appeal to teen audience.^{[37][38][39][40]} Up All Night entered the UK Albums Chart at number two selling 138,631 copies, the highest sales for a number two album in 2011, and became the fastest-selling debut album on the UK Albums Chart of 2011.^[3][41] The album topped the charts in Australia, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden; reaching the top ten in a total of twenty countries. It was released in North America, March 2012, the album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart at number one, making One Direction the first ever UK group in history to debut at number one with their debut album in both countries.^[42][43][44] As of 13 May 2012, the album had sold 608,382 copies in the UK.^[45] As of 30 May 2012, the album had sold 697,000 copies in the United States.^[46]

One Direction performing in Sydney during their Up All Night Tour, April 2012.

On 6 January 2012, One Direction released "One Thing" as the second single outside of UK and Ireland,^[47]. It was released in the UK as the third single on 13 February 2012.^[48] In the UK, "One Thing" peaked at number nine, becoming the third consecutive top ten single from Up All Night.^[49] "One Thing" despite not being released as a single in U.S. peaked at number sixty-two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[50] Ballad "More Than This" has been confirmed to be released as the fourth single.^[51]

On 26 September 2011, One Direction announced their debut headline UK tour, the Up All Night Tour, set for December 2011 and January 2012.^[52] In February and March 2012, One Direction announced Oceania and North American legs of the tour with dates set for April to July 2012.^[53][54] The total 62-show tour sold out completely.^{[55][56][57][58]} On the tour One Direction covered Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody", Gym Class Heroes's "Stereo Hearts", The Zutons's "Valerie", Ednaswap's "Torn" and The Black Eyed Peas's "I Gotta Feeling".^[59] A recording of their tour, entitled Up All Night: The Live Tour was released in late May 2012.^[60][61] The group were credited for singing live on the tour by Rolling Stone,^[62] The National Post^[63], Jam! Canoe,^[64] The Toronto Star,^[65] and The New York Times.^[66] 21 February 2012, One Direction attended the 2012 Brit Awards. The group received the BRIT Award for Best British Single.^[67] During One Direction's acceptance speech for their BRIT Award, Payne stated the group would embark on their first arena tour in 2013.^[68]

As of 9 April 2012, One Direction are being sued for trademark infringement by a low profile Californian music group who go by the same name. According to the lawsuit, the U.S. band has been using the name since 2009, recorded two albums and filed an application to register the trademark name in the U.S. in February 2011. The U.S. band say they are entitled to three times the profits made by the UK band, as well as compensatory damages in excess of US$1million. The lawsuit claims that Syco and Sony Music "chose to ignore the plaintiff's rights and wilfully infringed them" after they realised in early 2011 that the two bands share the same name.^[69] On 13 April, a spokesman for the UK group responded to the claims saying: "One Direction's management tried to resolve the situation amicably. One Direction's lawyers now have no choice but to defend the lawsuit and the band's right to use their name."^[70]

2012–present: Untitled second album and world tour[link]

Main article: 2013 World Tour

In May 2012, One Direction began recording their second studio album in Sweden.^[71][72] In April 2012, the group disclosed that they wanted to contribute more to the songwriting for their second album. Styles saying, "we're always writing on the road and in hotels and airports. We don’t ever want our music to sound like a 40-year-old man in an office has written it and given it to us to perform."^[73] The group also stated they're interest on collaborating with Ed Sheeran after they collaborated on the song "Moments" for their debut album.^[74] Sheeran also discussed an collaboration in an interview, he stated: "I’d like to go away and really write some wicked songs with them. I’ve got two songs that their manager emailed me for — old songs that were meant to go on my last album — a big stadium anthem."^[75] Talking about how they want their new material to sound, Tomlinson stated: "We want to take the next album into a different zone — more guitars and grungier. We like the sound of a real guitar on tour, we beefed up the live show so now we want to take it onto the album."^[76]

One Direction's world tour is set to begin in February 2013.^[77][78] The tour thus far consists of 101 shows in Europe, North America and Australasia. In the UK and Ireland, ticket sales reached 300,000 within a day of release respectively, which included a six date sell out at London's The O₂ Arena.^[79][80] In North America, the group added additional shows due to "overwhelming demand".^[81] In Australian and New Zealand markets, tickets grossed US$15.7 million, with all 190,000 tickets being sold for eighteen shows to be held in Australia and New Zealand.^[7][82]

Image[link]

One Direction greet Swedish fans in Stockholm, May 2012.

Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph published an article on the nature of One Direction's success in North America. Noting that Americans had left a gap in the market stating that it took prominence of Justin Bieber to demonstrate that there was still a market for "clean cut, wholesome, middle class parent friendly pop: cute boys advocating puppy love. And what could be better than one cute boy, if not five?".^[83] One Direction has been labelled as the new British Invasion.^{[31][32][33][34][35]} Bill Werde, a representative of Billboard Magazine commented. "There's a lot of possibility here, there's a lot of upside, that level of talent with those kinds of looks, it's really a perfect storm for a massive, massive successful phenomenon."^[84]

Sonny Takhar, the managing director of Syco Records, attributes the breakthrough to the power of social media. "Sometimes you feel the song's the star, but it's not like that here – it's the act," he says. "It's a real moment. Social media has become the new radio, it's never broken an act globally like this before."^[84] In March 2012, Yahoo! News published statistics from Google's keyword tool, showing that on average, 3.35 million people are searching for One Direction related search phrases each month.^[85] Their management employs a social media team, the members all tweet themselves, "which helps create the illusion that they couldn't be any closer to their fans." One Direction's Twitter account had amassed 3.9 million followers as of May 2012, with the account gaining followers at an average of 20,000 per day.^[86] Each member is known for their feature; Horan is "the cute one", Malik is "the quiet and mysterious one", Payne is "the sensible one", Styles is "the charming one" and Tomlinson is "the funny one."^[87]